In a league overcome and obsessed with its own importance, Marshawn Lynch is more than just one of the most productive running backs. He's a reminder that, under all that synergy and messaging, football is a game to play.

A date with a World Cup Group of Death looms, and USMNT players are bailing on European leagues to join MLS squads. How bad any of this is depends on your perspective, but it's almost certainly not as bad as this.

Every year, the first Monday after the last Sunday of the NFL regular season leads to a mass sacking of coaches. This year was no different, mostly because the NFL has a difficult time imagining how or why it should be.

As we downshift into Energy Saver Mode over the holidays, we're going to re-run some of our (and your) favorite pieces from 2013. Help us figure out what those pieces will be, if you like, and have a really good rest of your year.

If you read The Classical, you probably know about the FreeDarko books. If you know about the FreeDarko books, you definitely know about the impossibly great artwork in those two volumes. Jacob Weinstein, the genius responsible for said art, now has a web store where you can buy high-quality prints.

The new issue of The Classical Magazine is here. It's about video games, and finding ways of being happier. Also Michael Jordan dunks on a mad scientist and football players play wildly through the whistle and various things happen after the apocalypse. Things like that.

In the last Footballz Podcast of the year, our heroes take on the Detroit Lions, the Baltimore Ravens and the long, looming months of life without Jon Gruden telling us who is and is not a football player.